Since 1990, Eurest has regularly reported on the workplace eating habits of Uk and Ireland consumers and in 2012 it extended the reach of research to additional European countries. This larger leadership vision makes Eurest a natural partner for the Institute for Health and Productivity Management (IHPM) and its Work Place Wellness Alliance, with a global mission to advance health and performance. The European Eating at Work report exemplifies another reason for IHPM’s partnership with Eurest ongoing field research to learn more about “what works” in the world of human behavior change. Getting people to lead healthier lives requires making it easier for them to eat better in their daily routines.
For this 2016 report, Eurest has reached out to other subject matter experts, as University of Gastronomic Sciences, with the group of research formed by Paolo Corvo, director of Sociology Laboratory, Julia Wheen, external relationship Office, Raffaele Matacena, Phd candidate in Milano Bicocca University and alumno Unisg. The research was realized with the organization and the support of Compass Group, an international strategic partner of Unisg.
Unisg team analyzed the data of the 11.000 questionnaires effected to workers in ten European countries (Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom) with particular attention to their behavior during the lunch at work. Now we present the report regarding the Italian cases. In attachment you can find the report of Eurest.
Italy
When it comes to evaluating Italian lunch habits, two elements emerge as pivotal: family and food traditions. Both are strongly consolidated cultural features in Italy, and the intersection between the two shapes daily food routines of workers, affecting time, source and place of eating and the very food they are prone to consume. What is most evident is the habit of going back home to eat workday lunch, which characterizes the lives of 36% of the sample, a proportion way larger than the EU average (21%) and the second highest in the Pan European sample after Spain. Secondly, lunch break duration – as in all Latin countries of the survey – is markedly longer than the average: Italians spend a mean of 51.6 minutes for midday meal, against an EU average of 37.4 minutes, following Portugal as the longest lunch break registered in the survey.
Even if they do not reach family, however, Italians dislike eating alone (only 23% of the sample do so; the second lowest record of the survey) and very much appreciate the relieving effect of leaving their work premises during meal time. Only 25% (vs an EU average of 48%) remain within their working area to have lunch, whether at their desks or in the office rest area. If they do not choose to go home, they tend to purchase their food from multiple sources and eat it in various places. Company canteens score high, yet a host of other places like high-street restaurants, sandwich shops, bakeries, and coffee shops are chosen by higher-than-average proportions of workers. Furthermore, we must consider that ‘bar culture’ is a relevant trait of Italian lifestyle. Italians are very used to going to bars to have coffee, snacks, and even to have lunch. The diffusion of bars is huge in Italian cities, especially around office buildings and in central neighborhoods, and they usually offer a range of hot and cold foods tailored to workers’ lunch break necessities. Also, probably due to favorable climatic conditions, eating outdoors (like in parks, or public squares) is considerably appreciated, as well as eating ‘on-the-go’. This last feature helps us complete the picture, since it would be an error to consider Italians as having plenty of time to dedicate to lunch. Despite the relatively longer lunch breaks they enjoy, many workers face time and budget restraints (the part of the sample, for example, who declare never stopping work for lunch is 12%: an European record, shared with Germany), so they have to reconcile such dimensions with their food preferences. Plus, a high percentage of workers receive a luncheon voucher which can be spent in many high-street food shops and restaurant, among which they have to choose.
As a result, the criteria Italians adopt when deciding where and what to eat move along a double binary. They appear stretched between the need to maximize convenience and fit within their daily budget, and the desire to exercise their expertise as consumers, looking for food that meets their expectations. A close-by location, grab-and-go options and speed of service are then positively valued; but also the characteristics of the venue are taken into account, such as good service, a nice atmosphere, friendly staff and a comfortable facility where to relax are very sought after elements. As per the food, rather than value-for-money, Italians positively evaluate criteria of food quality and freshness, as well as many other more specific features, like healthiness, ‘naturalness’ and simplicity, availability of vegetarian food (in fact more diffused among women), low-calorie and low-fat food, seasonal, organic, sustainable and locally sourced food. Among the Pan European sample, Italians appear as the most attentive consumers, being significantly interested in specific food properties like the ones listed above.
Subsequently, their average midday diet is a combination of a Mediterranean style (which represents the basis of the Italian diet), with elements of convenience plus search for intrinsic food properties. High consumption frequencies of pasta, rice and pizza are detectable (even if the share of Italians declaring to frequently eat pasta for lunch occupies only the 3rd position in the European sample, ex aequo with France and Germany), together with salads and other vegetable-based dishes. Dishes which are deemed to have healthy characteristics are also frequently consumed, especially by women, as well as seasonal, organic and short chain foods, while meat-based dishes register below-than-average scores. To address convenience issues, though, and despite opting for fast food less than other countries, Italians eat a lot of sandwiches (especially hot sandwiches and panini) and snacks. Among the latter, traditional hot snacks and hand-held street food are preferred. Besides pizza, each region of Italy has a host of traditional street foods which perfectly fit the need of a working day quick lunch. However, ethnic snacks, as results from the survey, have not yet penetrated this market and are not frequently consumed by Italians. Lastly, an inclination towards eating desserts and sweet snacks is also detectable, more prominently among the female population.
In conclusion, the unique traits of Italian consumers – together with the fact that 21% of them receive a daily luncheon voucher – cause (and enable) them to daily choose where and what to eat for lunch from the vast offer of the market. Quality food is quite easily accessible in Italy, since restaurants and food shops with good standards and accessible prices are widespread in most places. This puts company restaurants and canteens in a position in which they have to face huge competition; not only with this market, but also with families, which many Italians are used to going back to for lunch. To succeed, then, a canteen should provide quality, in all its aspects: not just quality of food meeting the high expectations of Italian customers and the variety they desire, but also quality of service, comfort of facilities, and a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
di Paolo Corvo e Raffaele Matacena
